If you’ve spent any time reading marketing blogs recently, you’ve probably come across a whole new collection of acronyms: SEO, AEO, GEO…
Depending on who you ask, they’re either the future of digital marketing or just another set of buzzwords designed to make something familiar sound new.
The truth sits somewhere in the middle.
Over the past year or so, we’ve noticed a real shift in how people research businesses online. Google is still hugely important, but it’s no longer the only place people go to find answers. More and more people are opening ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity and asking questions in the same way they’d ask a colleague.
Instead of typing ‘web design Jersey’, they’re asking ‘Who are the best web designers in Jersey?’ or ‘How much should a new website cost?’
The technology has changed, but the intention hasn’t. People are still looking for trustworthy businesses that can answer their questions and solve their problems.
That’s why we don’t see SEO, AEO and GEO as three separate strategies.
They’re simply three different ways of describing the same goal: making your business easy to find wherever people are searching.
Search isn’t just happening on Google anymore
For years, digital marketing was largely about climbing Google’s search rankings. If your website appeared near the top of the page, you had a good chance of winning new business.
That hasn’t disappeared.
What’s changed is that Google is now answering more questions directly through AI Overviews, while tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are becoming part of people’s everyday research process.
Rather than clicking through ten different websites, people increasingly expect clear, trustworthy answers almost immediately.
For businesses, that means visibility is no longer just about appearing in search results. It’s about becoming one of the sources that search engines and AI platforms trust enough to reference.
So what’s the difference?
The easiest way to think about it is this.
SEO helps people discover your website through search engines.
AEO focuses on making your content the answer that appears directly in search experiences, whether that’s an AI Overview, a featured snippet or a voice assistant.
GEO is about making your expertise visible within AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude when they’re generating responses.
They’re slightly different destinations, but the road to getting there is remarkably similar.
The fundamentals haven’t really changed
Every few years someone announces that SEO is dead.
It happened when social media exploded. It happened when mobile browsing overtook desktop. It happened again with voice search.
Now AI has become the latest reason people think traditional search is disappearing.
We don’t see it that way.
Search engines still need websites to crawl. AI models still rely on high-quality information. People still want answers they can trust before choosing who to work with.
The businesses that perform well are usually the ones producing genuinely helpful content, demonstrating real expertise and making their websites easy to understand.
That was true five years ago and it’s still true today.
Write for people first
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is writing for algorithms instead of customers.
If every page is built around squeezing in keywords, it probably won’t be particularly useful to the person reading it. Equally, content that’s vague or generic is unlikely to stand out to AI platforms looking for reliable sources.
The best content usually starts with a simple question: What are your customers asking?
Maybe they want to know how much something costs. Maybe they’re trying to understand the difference between two services. Maybe they’re comparing suppliers.
If your website answers those questions clearly, you’re already moving in the right direction.
Experience matters more than ever
One thing AI has done is flood the internet with generic content. That creates an opportunity for businesses willing to share genuine expertise.
Talk about projects you’ve completed. Explain the questions clients ask you most often. Share lessons you’ve learned and the challenges you’ve overcome.
Those are the things AI can’t easily invent, and they’re exactly the sort of signals that build trust with both people and search platforms.
So what should businesses be doing?
You probably don’t need separate SEO, AEO and GEO strategies.
Instead, focus on creating a website that’s genuinely useful.
Keep it technically sound. Answer real customer questions. Structure your content clearly. Keep it up to date and don’t be afraid to share your own experience rather than repeating what everyone else is saying.
Do that consistently and you’ll naturally put yourself in a much stronger position, whether someone discovers your business through Google, an AI Overview or a conversation with ChatGPT.
The bottom line
The way people search is changing, but the principles behind good marketing haven’t changed nearly as much as the headlines suggest.
Businesses that create helpful, trustworthy content have always had an advantage online. AI hasn’t replaced that. If anything, it’s made it even more important.
Whether people find you through Google, ChatGPT or whatever comes next, the goal is still the same.
Be the business that answers their question better than anyone else.
Snap’s team of innovative designers, data driven marketers & pixel perfect developers, create lasting digital experiences. They work with an extensive range of clients from independent start-ups to established multi-jurisdictional companies. For more information, get in touch via the website or [email protected]
Pictured: Sonny Teeling, Digital Strategist at Snap
